Great to see things looking up for your bass, Mike. I can't wait to see the new wood fully blended (and fully aligned) with the old under a final finish. I have to admit, I think the V headstock would have been very distracting to me (risk of damage to the headstock itself, catching on things, putting someone's eye out...). The cone will look great.

Here's wishing her a speedy recovery and safe home from the Alembic hospital and spa for "supermodel" wood!!

I'm curious: What electronics set up does your bass have, that you are adding the master volume? Anniversary?

This is a Spyder bass, so yes it has Anniversary electronics. The master volume will come in handy.

The whole episode came about because of exactly what you mentioned - damage done to the V headstock (see the My Wife - Whacked! thread). The V was too much of a target. While it was in for repair, I asked Mica and the team to make the cone adjustment, add the master volume, and some other cosmetic changes (such as a dummy hum canceller) to make the bass at least appear that much closer to the stage basses Entwistle used.

It's great to see that work on your Wife is proceeding so well. I can't wait to see pictures of the bass with the new changes. You will, once again, have a beautiful bass. Now you can concentrate on that beautiful girl friend of yours! Take care.

I never connected with the fact that the Spyder had anniversary electronics. I always thought they were signature. The master volume will be nice for you. That way, every time you tweak one of the pu volumes you don't have to go to your amp (or adjust the other pu vol) to maintain your playing volume. Keeps the pu volumes just for tone shaping.

Yeah, that's the idea. I find myself going back and forth to the amp tweaking the master volume there as a gig progresses - would rather have that capability on board the bass. The new tone shaping capabilities will be cool. Will let everyone know how it sounds and looks when I get it back.

Shouldn't that be a "ding" of beauty, since the whole thing got off the ground from My Wife taking on a little ding? No jokes about that. Keep it clean. Ring a ding ding, as Sinatra would say.

Oliver, they can give you all these same modifications for a surprisingly "reasonable" price. Of course the time away from your Spyder sucks and the shipping costs are more for you, but you may feel it's worth it. I know what YOU want....the same thing I want....I'm just cheating a little.

Of course, if we started getting into the really serious modifications such as the note marker inlays and the totally flat fretboard, then we're talking some serious fromaggio....

the master volume will be installed when we put the electronics back in, so there's nothing to show yet on that front; the body does not need the finish coat, so it's masked, although in this case you can say it's wrapped (except, of course, for the neck and the peghead), therefore there isn't much to see. There will be pictures once it gets out of spray.

Thanks for taking my call today and the photos. So nice of you to take the time to chat with me.

The repairs look unbelieveably great!!! As the song says: It all looks fine to the naked eye! The seam won't be visible when I'm playing as I hardly ever turn my back to the audience.

Hopefully the master volume pot install won't hold you up. If you refer to the V-head 4-string you made for JE years ago, that bass had a single master volume knob and the p/u selector on the lower horn. I would like the same positioning of the master volume on mine please.

That elliptical scarf joint Mica and Co did looks awesome, Mike! It looks like it's supposed to come that way. Jackson did 'em that way on their megabuck neck-through "dinky" Strat-bodied hair-band metal guitars in the late '80's/early '90's. The joint, despite the multiple headstock lams, is probably stronger than the rest of the peghead.

That thing looks even better than it did when it was stock. I'm digging the the dummy humcanceller, the master vol. and the cone headstock better than the originally specs. as it is closer still to JAE's basses. You've done all the things I would have done if I was ordering one from scratch (allright, MAYBE I'd go with gold-plated hardware, some fancy fingerboard inlays and some wood backplates, MAYBE, LOL! ...shoulda , coulda, woulda, LOL! Like these things aren't expensive enough without me getting carried away...nothing exceeds like excess, LOL!).

Sure does look better, doesn't it? Much closer in appearance to JE's basses.

This one does have the gold hardware, by the way. It's obviously all removed here. I don't mind the metal backplates, as those are also true to the originals. For additional accuracy I might just leave the truss rod coverplate off, as John did.

Speaking of the gold hardware - John's basses had chrome Schaller tuners, not the gold Gotohs this one came with. I have chrome Schallers on my Exploiter. I asked Mica today if I could swap them - unfortunately I can't, as the posts on the Schallers are narrower than the holes that were drilled to accommodate the wider Gotohs. But...she showed me a way where I might be able to cheat a little. I'll report back once I try it to see if I can get away with it.

Now if I only had the scratch to get some fancy note inlays and Series II electronics....sigh.

But I can't complain - the pics speak for themselves - this bass looks FANTASTIC, the repair work is impeccable, and now I have a one-of-a-kind Spyder - as close as I'll ever get to the bass I dreamed about having as a kid.

Thanks Mica, Mike, and Valentino. You made a boy's dream come true.

Mike Bisch

PS - Happy 60th birthday John Alec Entwistle! The Alembic community loves you! I bet at least 1/3 of us wouldn't be here if you hadn't influenced us. Thank you for your gifts to us...you're the boss bassman!!! Rest in peace!

Mike: I didn't realize about the plated hardware. I thought they all came with just the polished brass (excepting the machines, of course). My bad.

Even though the Schallers are more authentic, you're probably better off with the sealed Gotoh's. I thought about using Schallers on my bass because I've always thought that they matched the scale of a LS bass (a la "J" or "P" bass) better than the Gotoh's which, with the exception of the key size, look more suited (scale-wise) to a 6-str. guitar). The Gotoh's are probably the smoothest machines out there...Mica and Co. did choose 'em for a reason, and I doubt it was primarily because of price.

I had actually thought about doing a Custom that was closer to JAE's basses than a "STANDARD" Spyder (yeah right, like any Alembic, especially a 50/50 Ltd. Edition Spyder, is "standard"!, LOL!). Not only is it prohibitively expensive to duplicate John's masterpieces, but it appears you've beaten me to the punch, LOL! This is the MAIN trouble with Alembic: These sominabatchin' bastiges give you so many fargin' choices you can't make up your fargin' mind what you fargin' want! LOL! J/K of Course!

Hmmmmmnn....maybe a GUITAR version of a Spyder? We'll see, LOL!

Yes, as Oliver so diligently pointed out in another thread...the OX's birthday. What's that about only the good dying young? Certainly appropos here. The Quiet One still rocks on!

BTW, don't forget about the OTHER John. Mssr. Lennon would have been 64 as well. How many of us were influenced by HIM? OK, raise your hands...mine's up! Thanks to Mssr. Zimmerman (no , not THAT Zimmerman, LOL! I meant Tom) for reminding us forgetful eyesoles about out John Winston (er, um, Ono?) Lennon's Birthday.

BTW: I should be ashamed of myself for forgetting his birthday, especially since his assassin (Mark David Chapman) was just up for, and ultimately was denied (thankfully and rightfully), parole once again. I can still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing on that dreadful day in Dec. of '80 when we all got the news of what happened outside the Dakota in NYC. It still brings back many painful memories almost 25yrs. later.

Mike, Kevin, Guys, the bass looks really awesome! Mike, great great! I have yet seen another picture of a Spyder with a pointed headstock and it looked really great! As for the inlays of Johns original ones, it is really too expensive. But I really donīt give up. And I still dream of getting one of Johns original ones. (John, did you hear me? I you want me to get one I will get one...)

Like Oliver says and I think we've all experienced - if you punch all the factors into the quote generator you'll find that if you want a bass like Entwistle's, get a Spyder. Alembic can make the modifications I made (as seen above) while the Spyder is still at the factory. It's far less expensive than custom-building one. You learn to live without the note inlays (just learn your scales!). The tone is pretty dang close, which is more evident if you have a monster rig.

You're right about the Gotohs, those seem a lot smoother and more accurate than the Schallers.

A Spyder guitar would be cool, wouldn't it?

Mica and I were talking yesterday about the possibility of Spyder B-29 boxes. Don't be surprised if one crawls up your wall soon...

I'm wondering if I should thank my singer for slicing my peghead off in the first place....that whole incident gave birth to what I consider a very nice custom job!

Will take some pics of the newly customized Spyder and post for you all once I get the bass back.

Mike: I'm pretty sure John didn't need the inlays to figure out where he was on the neck, and neither do most of us, LOL! I'd want them just because HE had them.

As far as SII Electronics...the jury is still out for me as far as if I actually NEED that much complexity in any instrument. SII elecs. sure looks cool though and it's always hot sh*t to have the top-of-the-line/state-of-the-art. I'd probably do what you did: have them put the dummy HC and just make sure there is enough room for the SI elecs. in case I wanted to go that route in the future. Alright, maybe I'd have the 5-pin jack installed ahead of time, but the side-mount recesssed style installed in the lower bout (a la "Almost Twins"), adjacent to the side flush-mount 1/4" female jack. I can't stand the looks of top-mount jacks, especially the five- pin.

Yeah, a Spyder guitar would be hot sh*t! I don't know how practical it would be, but it would sure be a conversation piece! I guess with the exception of you, Mike (eg, being in a Who tribute band), a Spyder bass isn't the world's most practical bass either, n'est-ce pas?

Spyder B-29 boxes would be awesome...I can think of three immediate takers...yourself, Alan D. and Ollie B., LOL!

As far as singer-boy Roey, I'd thank him AFTER you collected the money for the repair, LOL!

As far as pix go...please do. Some of us (ahem) are still waiting for pix of your lovely model girlfriend (with the bass of course, LOL!), LOL!

it turns to be a very good swap indeed. SOme brothers and sisters will now fell off their chair now but ...I really LIKE the pointed headstock on this model ...really!!!! About a Spider guitar ...welll ...there are members here who own very nice "exploiter" guitars ...without the web-inlay of course. I remember seeing one with a very neat "dagger" design of a headstock. It must be here somewhere but ...jeez

I would say that the Spyder is perhaps the most impractical instrument I've ever owned. Even including the baritone horn I played in 2nd grade - I could still get that on the school bus! I thought my Exploiter was impractical until I got this one! But it is sooooo worth it.

I haven't seen much of Jackie lately, so we might all have to wait for a pic of her with the Spyder. I know Paul TBO is very upset.

I wouldn't know what to do with SII electronics. I haven't really had my Spyder long enough to figure all the tonal varieties in that one out (It's been in the shop longer than I've actually had it in my hands - but worth the wait). Given all the tonal possibilities with the Spyder plus my Trace Elliot AH600, I've lots of playing around to do! If I decide to get a guitar processor for distortion sounds I'll be even more out of control! But my Fulltone Bass Driver does just fine for now.

Mike, this has turned out to be a great opportunity to Entwistle-ise your Spyder. It shows that bad things can be changed for the better if approached in a positive way. I hope she'll be the star of the show, action pictures will be appreciated... (but don't let me see a microphone swirling singer on them!)

It's all good and all relative. All the Series Electronics in the world wouldn't make me play/sound like John anyway, LOL! I have all I can do trying to figure out my "East Meets West" electronics...I'll let you know when I get there, LOL! We won't even talk about the eight-million knobs on my Eden WT-550 and what they're all about (PSST..a little secret for you..I haven't got a clue, LOL!).

I'm just a crappy guitar player who plods around on bass with a little more money in my pocket than I have brains in my skull, so you'll have to forgive my meanderings.

I've been considering the Eden WT-550 as my next amp purchase. I haven't been able to play one yet, but I hear that they easily get great sound. The parametric, or is it semi-parametric mid-range on them looks challenging. Are you happy with the basic sound out of the amp? Is there a basic sound?

Reid: Yes, you get a great sound right out of the box! The thing sounds awesome flat and you have that "enhance" (sweetner, LOL!) knob a la SWR. The semi-parametric is there in case you need to tame a crappy room. It's ultra compact and powerful and as it's a hybrid, you get the sweetness of tubes with the low-distortion punch/high-headroom and tight extended low-end of a S/S power section. That amp will run all day with a 2-Ohm load, so two 4-Ohm cabs in parallel will produce max amp power and max headroom (620W MONO nominal @ 2-Ohms with a MINIMUM of 3dB headroom....FYI a 3db increase in level requires a DOUBLING of amplifier power...remember your logarithms?)

Gard and Beaver @ Bass Central gushed over the thing so much I just had to buy it, LOL! Seriously, those guys can play anything they want and the whole store staff plays that amp through Eden cabs...two D-210XST's (sounds better than a single D-410XST) for the ultimate in portability and great sound...usually mutually-exclusive goals, LOL!

At their recommendation, I got the padded cordura shoulder bag for the amp (with room for all my cables, a tuner, and some cheat sheets) and padded 1000d Cordura cab covers from LeCover (used to be the pre-US Music OEM cover supplier for Eden). I can throw the amp over my shoulder in the bag and each cab is light enough to lift myself without a cart. Everything fits in the back seat of my Dodge Ram HD Quad Cab Pick-em-up!

Even Spyder Ollie uses Eden! LOL! It's all a matter of personal preference..."One man gathers what another man spills" LOL!

Cheers,

Kevin

BTW, Don't forget: you have really all the tone control you'll ever need right at your finger tips...an Alembic Bass, LOL!

Thanks for the information, opinion and math lesson Kevin! I've heard good things about that little amp, now I'm really Jonzing to try one. My plan is to push one 4 ohm, Acme Low B2 with it. And you're right, the ultimate tone controls are those amazing chunks of wood, artistry and technology we know as Alembic basses!

One of the fans will be posting photos elsewhere shortly, I'll put up a link.

No hot chicks at this gig, I'm afraid! Very very low turnout. Disappointing but we said to h$## with it and turned it up. LOUD! Kevin - we plan to hit the road in 2005 and hopefully come your way. But NYC is Who's Next territory - they are terrific! Check them out if you have a chance.

Mica, thanks for the souvenir. Nice touch. It's going in a frame and onto my wall - which is also what JE did with some of his smashed basses.

Paul and Ollie - don't know what you two are up to with those stockings. You may want to consider having a bake sale instead if you wanna raise funds for that exact replica! That's a lotta brownies!

I can hear it now - "Hey mister, whaddaya mean that cookie is $500?" "That's no ordinary cookie, kid - that's an Alembic!! Now, would you like purpleheart laminates on your cookie?"

I'm disappointed about the girlies, though...I thought every gig had hot drunken college girls hugging and kissing one another, LOL! J/K.

I was on Who's Next's site previously and I read the account of their rare experience of getting the OX on-stage for a Who medley when they opened for the JEB in NYC. I haven't seen them yet. Having worked at the World Trade Center for eight years, I've had quite enough of the "Big Apple" to last a lifetime, so I only venture into NYC when I absolutely have to, LOL! NOT one of my favorite places on the planet, unfortunately. I prefer to stay in the Garbage, er, Garden State.

Paul/Ollie: Screw the bake sale, go on-line and start your own website. If that college girl in NYC can raise 100's of $1,000's crying that she needs money to pay off her credit card debt, so to can you plead to the general populace at-large for a gimmee. Tell 'em John would have wanted it that way or something, LOL! J/K.

(Message edited by kmh364 on October 17, 2004)

Add Your Message Here

Post:

Username:

Posting Information:
This is a private posting area. Only registered users and moderators may post messages here.